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Topic: Fermentor/temp control equip (Read 632 times)

Thinking ahead of possibly going all grain w a stand and have two questions. 1) are there boil kettles that can also be used as fermentors? Something to just throw into the refrigerator after boiling? 2) can anyone share or recommend a smaller refrigerator they've used for this? Standup would be preferred, perhaps something between a full size and mini?

I've heard of a person or two who ferments in the kettle, but they drain the wort off the trub into another container - clean and sanitize the kettle - then put the wort back. Those glass front wine refrigerators make great fermentation chambers. AmandaK has 3! #jealousy

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Delmarva United Homebrewers - President by inverse coup - former president ousted himself.AHA Member since 2006BJCP Certified: B0958

I have an old dorm fridge that I picked up off of craigslist. It used to be a kegerator. It's probably from the 70s. Maybe older. It's about a third the size of a regular fridge.

It just barely fits one of the taller ale pails. It's slightly too short for the airlock so I cut the bottom of an airlock off, attached some tubing to it and run the tubing into the bottom of another airlock I tape to the side of the bucket. There's a half shelf I can remove and that will just barely fit a corny keg. Not sure it will fit with the disconnects though. I have it hooked up to a temperature controller. I can get the temperature down to about forty before the internal temperature controller cuts off. So I can ferment lagers but can't lager down where I need to. I can make drinkable lagers with that set up but they definitely aren't winning competitions.

I can fit a 6 gallon Better Bottle + blowoff tube with room to spare. Just be careful bending the freezer plate on the top... you don't want to puncture it (as I might have done once), resulting in the sad sound of the coolant leaking, rendering the fridge useless.

You can find the fridge on sale, so all-in it may be the best $250 you can spend for maintaining consistent fermentation temps.

You might consider a small chest freezer. Fridge-wise the sanyo 4912 fits a large fermenter quite well- and there are many models just like it under different names and manufacturer. Two kegs also fit nicely.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

I did the exact same thing at Lowe's. No one said a word when I started removing the shelves from the freezer.. Some people looked at me like I was bringing a bomb into the store and gave me a wide berth.

I did the exact same thing at Lowe's. No one said a word when I started removing the shelves from the freezer.. Some people looked at me like I was bringing a bomb into the store and gave me a wide berth.

I can't imagine that many people walk into Lowe's with a 20-40 gallon stainless conical on a cart. I bet you were quite the site!